Success Stories: Paguro Podcast interviews Smiz

How a Smiz uses Ghost Kitchens to provide healthy meals.

Guest

Kristine Lie Bakk from Smiz.no

"We had a great experience booking a kitchen space through Paguro. The team were super helpful in presenting to us relevant spaces and when we found the perfect space they fixed all contractual arrangements which made the process super easy and fast. They been very present and helpful through the whole process and even came with us to the viewing."

Kristine Lie Bakk from Smiz

Helene Timm | Paguro Podcast

Good to meet you Kristine. I am curious to hear who you are and what your company Smiz is all about.

Kristine Lie Bakk | Smiz

Thank you for having me. My name is Kristine [Lie Bakk] and I am the COO and the co-founder of Smiz. I founded the company together with my best friend [Frøya Hetzel] in March last year. We started talking about it around two weeks before Corona hit. I will get to why, but it is a really Corona-friendly business idea. It was obvious for us that we had to start this company when Corona hit. But many people thought we were crazy when we quit our jobs while others got laid off.

Before Smiz I have been in e-commerce for four years and I also worked as a consultant. So neither I nor my cofounder Frøya, have any experience in the food industry. But I think that has also been quite a healthy thing. Now, another Kristine has joined the team, who is a chef.

Helene Timm | Paguro Podcast

Ok, so she brings the food expertise.

Kristine Lie Bakk | Smiz

Yes. I think it was about time. But to tell a little bit more about Smiz: What we do is to provide more nutritional fast-food options. We focus on food that is made for delivery or transport. So, it could be delivered traditionally with Foodora or Wolt but it could also be the customer picking it up. There are different kinds of food that are suitable to be transported. A lot of restaurants are focusing more on the in-house or dine-in customer but neglecting people who would order. There is a growing amount of people who are ordering or taking food home. So, we want to focus on these customers and provide better quality and a better meal to them.

From the beginning Ghost Kitchens have been essential to us to cook our food. This led us to team up with canteens and hotels. We saw that there are so many kitchen facilities, but they are not being used more than half of the time. So why should we build all these new kitchens? It is much better for the environment, and it is much more cost-efficient for us to share a kitchen, as we do not have to make big investments. This model has been quite fundamental for us as a company.

Helene Timm | Paguro Podcast

When I read articles about Cloud Kitchens [synonym for Ghost Kitchens] to do research for our news section on the [Paguro] homepage, I often realize that the articles are about the US and how companies are scaling with Ghost Kitchens in the US. It seems like it is quite a new concept, in Norway at least, and most relevant to bigger cities like Oslo.

What has been the feedback from customers not being able to reach you at a location?

Kristine Lie Bakk | Smiz

So far our customers have not commented on that. I guess one challenge of having this model is that you don't have that direct relationship with your customers, especially when you work through the apps of Foodora and Wolt. Because the driver is the one that comes and picks up the food and you don't meet the customer. But it has been fun to have a pick-up location at Vulkan, which we booked through Paguro. There we have a very nice pick-up location where customers come to pick up their food. In that case we get to meet some customers. But we do get a lot of feedback and input from our customers on Instagram regarding the food and also the values of the company. There are a lot of people who love that we want to focus more on sustainability. People also say that they feel better when they eat our food, as it is not like these greasy burgers. So the comments are more food related. I guess that also proves that the whole Ghost Kitchen part does not concern the customer that much.

Kristine Lie Bakk from Smiz.no

Helene Timm | Paguro Podcast

It becomes almost invisible.

Kristine Lie Bakk | Smiz

In a way, yes. My guess is that they experience a Pop-up kitchen as a different model than what they are used to. But it is not something that they talk about.At the end of the day the customers want to have a good meal and that is also what we see in the comments.

Helene Timm | Paguro Podcast

I am assuming this way you can also focus on other things like on the food but also on your outer presence on let’s say social media and don’t have to keep a whole restaurant running.

Kristine Lie Bakk | Smiz

Yes, that is very critical. I think food is very complex and you should be able to focus on what matters. Of course, that will vary from company to company but I think that is very critical.

Helene Timm | Paguro Podcast

What has the internal process been like for Smiz? Were there key things that you had to consider, that you were perhaps not thinking of before you started the kitchen? Especially in regards to Ghost Kitchens.

Kristine Lie Bakk | Smiz

For Frøya and me, it has been an adventure of getting to know the food industry. There are many things that can go wrong. You start to think about recipes, you prepare food and you also consider the steps before the customer receives the meal. The same is true for the transportation with Foodora. Food is a very fragile product, therefore it is important to ensure a smooth delivery. It does not matter if you have the greatest recipe and dish if something goes wrong in the delivery process. I think that has been the most important lesson for us.

Helene Timm | Paguro Podcast

I would like to end our conversation by asking you where you see Smiz in the future and perhaps what you think about the future of the Ghost Kitchen concept in Norway?

Kristine Lie Bakk | Smiz

I think it will be very interesting to see what is going to happen. Internationally Ghost Kitchens are booming. There are so many companies and business models working with the concept. In Scandinavia, there are also a lot of interesting companies popping up. Also in Norway, there are several players at the moment. It will definitely grow. I think our next step for Smiz is to improve our concept and our menus, establish the team and build a solid foundation for the company to grow. We are already receiving messages from people in other Norwegian cities asking us to expand to their area. Once we have established ourselves as a company we would love to expand and do it in a way that we can deliver the brand and the food in its best quality. So I think expansion is definitely on the horizon.

Helene Timm | Paguro Podcast

Perhaps Paguro and Smiz will be on the same timeline. Paguro is also planning to expand to other cities which means that we will also list kitchens from other areas than Oslo on our platform. Then we would be able to provide you with kitchens there as well.

Kristine Lie Bakk | Smiz

That would be amazing. There is no better thing than to do things with others.

Helene Timm | Paguro Podcast

I agree. Thank you very much for the conversation!